I’m trying to see if I can make my own activated charcoal diy, from bonfire charcoal and if it is equally as good as the purchased activated charcoal.
In: 817
activated charcoal is special because it has *way* more surface area for chemical stuff to happen. think of melting an ice-cube vs crushed ice. more area, more reaction.
to make charcoal, take wood, trap it in a low/no oxygen environment, and heat it intensely (with some way for gasses to escape)
this creates (mostly) carbon. the problem is that this carbon is in the shape of wood. you can go buy real-wood charcoal. it’s charcoal and you can still see the planks of wood it’s made from. complete with the smooth surfaces where the wood was saw-cut. we want more surface area than that. so you pump a bunch of super-heated steam through it. the steam cleans the carbon, taking away the other stuff in wood that’s still left behind.
carbon doesn’t usually dissolve in water, but with enough heat you can get a little bit to go. and that’s what we want. the super heated steam scratches a little tiny bit of the carbon away, breaking up the smooth surface from the wood and making the pores inside a bit bigger. more surface area.
Latest Answers